I’m sick of customer satisfaction. The worst companies in the world tout the fact that they won some satisfaction award. It’s not just a bad joke. It’s a pathetic statement.
Every company is hoping that their customers will reorder and spread the word about how great their products are and how great their people are. And they’re hoping to proactively encourage others to place an order or do business with them.
That is not customer satisfaction. That is customer loyalty.
Every company must have loyalty as its mission, not satisfaction.
Every company must have loyalty, not satisfaction, as its imperative.
And here’s the secret: Loyalty must be given before it is received.
No company can ensure customer loyalty until they have secured employee loyalty. It amazes me that big companies will lay off thousands of people in the name of profit or shareholder value, and think nothing of what it does to internal morale or the impact it has on the reduction of service to its customers – even a reduction in the quality of its product.
Look at the best companies in the world. They have great employees. They have great products. They give great service. And they’re easy to do business with. This makes them attractive. And these are the elements that create loyalty.
I wish more companies would add to their mission statement that they’ll be loyal to their employees – so that their employees would be loyal to their customers, so that their customers would be loyal to the company. That is a loyalty chain.
A loyalty chain doesn’t start with satisfied customers. A loyalty chain starts with senior management understanding that loyalty is a way of life, not just a word. That loyalty starts at home, not at a customer’s place of business. That loyalty is earned by a process, not by a wave of a wand or even by product excellence.
Loyalty is easily measured. Just look at your repeat business.
Satisfaction is also easily measured. Just look at the customers you lost.
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